Coach of powerhouse Henry Carr basketball squad takes his team to U.S. tournaments to keep his best players from heading south to play.

Father Henry Carr high school basketball coach Paul Melnik at a game last week against Jeam Vanier. Melnik takes his guys on the road to compete in the U.S. to allow the players exposure to scouts and test their talents against the Americans.

By:Joseph HallSports Reporter, Published on Fri Jan 27 2012

He stares like a contented hawk from his purple plastic chair as his fledgling stars tear a talented Jean Vanier Mavericks squad to shreds.

Coach Paul Melnik’s team is flying high with a 24-5 record in league and tournament play this season.

It’s keeping his players in the Father Henry Carr nest that’s concerned him most in recent times.

Having seen a steady drip of talented kids head south to join more touted and scouted U.S. high school programs, Melnik has hit on a keep ’em here strategy:

Take them down there himself.

“It was very heartbreaking,” Melnik says of the kids he’s watched fly from his north Etobicoke school to play down south.

“There are at least three or four kids right now playing on some of the best teams in the U.S. that would make this team unbeatable.”

In an attempt to halt that kind of flight, Melnik is taking his Henry Carr squad to some of the top high school tournaments the U.S. has to offer.

“We’re saying you don’t have to go to the U.S. because we’ll take you there,” he says.

This season alone, Henry Carr has travelled to two prestigious U.S. tournaments in Coral Springs, Fla. and Beverly Hills, Mich., for the Motor City Roundball Classic.

“And we have done very well over the years where we’ve taken fifth or sixth place at some of the bigger tournaments,” Melnik says.

“This year we lost in the finals in (Coral Springs).”

Such success not only gives his players heightened status with college scouts, but a more elevated opinion of their own homegrown program, Melnik says.

As well, he says, playing top-flight U.S. teams improves Henry Carr’s game.

“We give them a taste of the American style of basketball . . . how their teams play and how their coaches coach,” Melnik says.

“And we try to emulate some of the better teams down there.”

Melnik says that the southern migration of top Canadian hoops talent has been going on for about two decades.

“But now, just in the last five years it’s really exploded where the numbers are huge,” he says.

For many current Henry Carr players, Melnik’s southern strategy has been a game changer — with several saying they’ve stayed home because of the travel opportunities.

Tre Boutilier, a 6’5” shooting guard, says the U.S. tournament play has improved his game and encouraged him to stay put.

“A lot of Canadian natives, they lack exposure up here, they’re just stuck up here just playing basketball against each other,” the Grade 12 student says.

“It allows us to go down there and play against a variety of talent. It allows us to tweak our game, see where we stand on a national and North American standpoint and it shows us that . . . we’re in that mix.”

Boutilier, who has NCAA Division 1 ambitions, says the scouting opportunities the tournaments offer are also critical for his career.

Melnik is open about the reason he struck on the can’t beat them then join them strategy — he wants to win.

“Is it only about winning a championship? No,” he says. “But if we aren’t going for a championship, then why are we (playing)?”

And such sustained success also makes the school more attractive to the best players from Toronto.

“It’s the old expression if you build it they will come,” Melnik says. “Great musicians want to be in great music programs, great artists want to be in great art programs and great basketball players want to be in great basketball programs.”

More on thestar.com

We value respectful and thoughtful discussion. Readers are encouraged to flag comments that fail to meet the standards outlined in our
Community Code of Conduct.
For further information, including our legal guidelines, please see our full website
Terms and Conditions.